It’s MadBum time.
Giants ace Madison Bumgarner will make his first start of the season for the San Francisco Giants tonight, taking on Patrick Corbin and the Diamondbacks.
Bumgarner, of course, began the season on the disabled list with a fractured finger on his left hand, suffered when he was hit by a comebacker in a late spring training game. It served to shorten his second straight season, after last year’s campaign was interrupted by a shoulder strain sustained in a dirt bike accident on an off-day in Colorado. That led to him making only 17 starts in 2017.
The Giants have, surprisingly, held their own in Bumgarner’s absence, sitting at .500, only a game and a half behind Arizona. I say surprisingly because Bumgarner has not been the only Giants pitcher to find himself in dry dock this season. Jeff Samardzija got a late start to the season due to a strained pectoral muscle and has continued to battle his own body as the year has gone on. Johnny Cueto isn’t expected back until July at the earliest due to a sprained right elbow. If it wasn’t for every team in the West going through an awful patch at one time or another, the season could already be lost.
But it’s not lost. Not yet. And getting their ace back gives the Giants as good a chance as anyone in the division to shake off the blahs and go on a run.